Trout will serve time

Former councilman’s attempt to stay out during appeal of computer spying case denied

by Cindy Landrum

Published Sept. 2, 11:38 a.m.

Former Greenville County Councilman Tony Trout has been ordered to report to federal prison on Sept. 22.

Federal judge Henry Floyd on Tuesday denied Trout’s motion for an appeal bond that would have allowed him to stay out of prison while he appealed his conviction on federal computer spying charges.

Floyd ruled that Trout was a danger to the community.

Floyd said Trout’s attempt to get a suppressor for an assault rifle after his conviction “shows poor judgment.”

“There is clear and convincing evidence he’s a danger to the community,” the judge said. “It’s time to put this case to bed.”

Trout was sentenced in July to one year and one day in prison on four computer spying and wiretapping charges. A jury found the former police officer guilty of unlawfully accessing Greenville County Administrator Joe Kernell’s county computer, unlawfully accessing a Yahoo server that contained emails from Kernell’s personal accounts, illegally intercepting electronic communication and unlawfully disclosing that information.

He was acquitted on a charge of deliberately destroying evidence to impede an investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dean Eichelberger told the judge that a gun shop owner who sold Trout the suppressor before his arrest on the computer spying charges told an FBI agent that Trout tried to get possession of the device after his conviction.

“That shows colossally poor judgment,” he told the judge. “That was emphasized yet again by Mr. Trout’s sending a letter to the court.”

Trout told the judge he was not actually purchasing the suppressor, and was instead trying to get the money back that he paid before his arrest.

An FBI agent said Trout was actually trying to pick up the suppressor.

“Where I stand right now, $400 is a lot of money,” said Trout, whose voice cracked when he told the judge that he had to take his son out of karate because of his family’s financial problems. “I just wanted my money back.”

But the judge said a federal probation officer collaborated the FBI agent’s version of what happened in an independent report.

In his letter, Trout begged the judge to let him stay out of jail because his family needed him.

He also outlined his accomplishments as a police officer and his battles on county council, including allegations that he discovered the clerk to the county council had been “embezzling funds from her expense account.” The clerk, Theresa Kizer, wrote Floyd two letters, one telling the judge she feared Trout was “planning his revenge upon those he hates and holds responsible for his conviction.”

Floyd said in court that it disturbed him the letters were written on Greenville County Council stationery.

After the hearing, Trout said he wasn’t surprised by the judge’s ruling.

“He was fair and he had a hard job because the government, let’s just say will fudge a little bit,” Trout said. “I’m ready to go ahead and get it done.”

Trout said he had a lot of things to do before his prison report date.

“I might take a vacation,” he said, before walking away from the courthouse.

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